Invasion of the ‘journal snatchers’: the firms that buy science publications and turn them rogue

Study finds dozens of journals that have hiked their fees and started churning out papers after being acquired by small, recently formed companies.

Nature

April 17, 2025

Dalmeet Singh Chawla

"Research-integrity analysts are warning that ‘journal snatchers’ — companies that acquire scholarly journals from reputable publishers — are turning legitimate titles into predatory, low-quality publications with questionable practices.

In an analysis published on the preprint repository Zenodo in January, researchers identified three dozen journals that have been caught in this predicament after being bought by what they describe as a network of recently established international companies with no track record in the publishing industry. The scholarly database Scopus has removed the titles from its index after an investigation.

'We found at least 36 journals but we think that there may be more,” says study co-author Alberto Martín-Martín, an information scientist at the University of Granada in Spain. Nature was able to reach one of the companies named in the study, Oxbridge Publishing House, which disputes the allegations.'"

Defamation Claims Arising from Research Misconduct Cases: Best Practices for Institutions

April 21, 2025

Published online by Cambridge University Press

Nathaniel Jaffe, Minal Caron, Lauren Walsh, Barbara Bierer and Mark Barne

"ABSTRACT

Researchers involved in research misconduct proceedings are increasingly threatening or bringing legal defamation claims against the institutions, complainants, and publications involved in the proceedings. Although defamation claims do not often succeed, they can nevertheless be costly and lengthy. This article analyzes certain defamation cases in the research misconduct space and provides advice for institutions and other involved parties seeking to minimize potential defamation liability associated with research misconduct proceedings.

Jaffe N, Caron M, Walsh L, Bierer B, Barnes M. Defamation Claims Arising from Research Misconduct Cases: Best Practices for Institutions. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics. Published online 2025:1-8. doi:10.1017/jme.2025.37"

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